Creates Golden Opportunity

The rapid rise in the value of the Euro has created an even stronger foreign market for American music. International business is almost always conducted in dollars. Oil, natural gas, gold, silver, wheat, rice, sugar, and many other such things are priced in dollars. Music, movies, and other art forms are usually priced in dollars. Most of western Europe uses coins and bills called Euros. Just a few months ago, the Euro was worth about 80 cents, in American money. Now, the Euro is worth well over a dollar.
This is a very important fact if you are interested in leasing your music to one of the European music distributors. The rise in the value of the Euro has lowered the price of everyday items in Europe.

Here's an example. Oil sells on the world market for about $30 per barrel. When the Euro was worth 80 cents, a barrel of oil cost 36 Euros. That same barrel of oil now costs about 25 Euros. If you take this same effect and apply it to other everyday items, you see the impact it is having on the European economy. Imported cars, electronics, and clothing from Asia, meat and grain from the United States and hundreds of other items have become 25% to 30% cheaper.
The overall effect is to increase the purchasing power of the average European by about 30%. It is almost the same as if everybody in Europe had been given a tax free 30% raise in pay. The average European has more money to spend on entertainment. Some of that increase will be spent on American music.
The demand for American music is increasing. European music distributors will need more American music to meet the increased demand. This is only half of the overall picture. Let me give you another example. Assume a German music distributor wants to lease American music to meet the increased demand. Assume the cost per album is $20,000. Before the run-up in the Euro a $20,000 album lease would have cost the German company 25,000 Euros. This year, it will cost about 18,000 Euros. Assume the German music distributor had a total of 100,000 Euros to spend leasing American music. Last year, he could lease four American albums. This year, he can lease five American albums.

Each American artist is still getting $20,000 for his album. The payment has not changed. The overall pie has became larger. The total number of artists receiving $20,000 has increased. The German music distributor's cost has remained the same. The demand for American music has increased. The price in dollars has remained the same. The cost to the distributor has fallen about 20%. These three factors mean there has never been a better time to lease American music to European record distributors. The world's largest music trade fair is held in January. Visit http://www.midem.com for details.